Our Flag – 4th of July

Flag Day is on June 14th so I wanted to read a book with my son about flags and the importance of Our Flag. I found a Little Golden Book by Carl Memling titled Our Flag. This is a great book that gives history on the changes of the flags of the USA. I find this book a great one for kids of all different ages. The pictures are bright and colorful. The text is simple and easy to follow. The explanations on each page are brief, but are still able to tell a lot about the history of Our Flag. The book starts by giving explanations of why we fly our flag. Then is tells you how the flag came to about. It briefly goes into the thirteen colonies, what the original flag’s stripes and stars symbolized, where it was carried, etc. The last few pages of the book are great. It talks about the rules for how to fly the flag, times when you salute the flag, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

I have a lot of tongue depressors in my craft supplies, so I wanted to see if we could come up with a craft using them. Then I thought about the Holidays in July and thought a flag would be a fun craft to make with the tongue depressors. You will need 6 tongue depressors, white paint, red paint, paint brushes, hot glue gun, a rectangle of blue paper, and something to draw stars with. I like to have a paint brush for each paint color when I am painting with my child. This way I avoid the mixing of colors.

Step 1: Paint 3 tongue depressors red, and 2 tongue depressors white.

Step 2: While the 5 tongue depressors are drying draw stars on the blue rectangle. If you have star stickers you may use those instead. I didn’t have any.

Step 3: When the depressors are dry you will use your hot glue gun to glue the depressors together as shown in the picture. Make sure the “flag pole” is on the back with the stripes glued on top.

Step 4: Glue on the blue rectangle with the stars in the top left corner.

Step 5: Show off your flag craft!!!

Don’t forget to bring this book back out on the 4th of July and wave your flags during the parade!